Sunday, January 8, 2017

Music Helps Lower School Drop Out Rates

Imagine giving a child that one reason, that single motivation, the admirable courage to go to school each and every day. What happens to attendance Let's take a look at dropout rates. What makes a student want to give up on their education and quit? There is a disconnection from the importance of their education, as it pertains to their individual success, and they become lost in the system. What if every student could somehow feel a connection to their daily classes? If a student has difficulty in academics, and they are nonathletic, and they are not part of a popular group, how can we expect the students to fit in? Music is universal, every student listens to it and every student can participate.

AN EXAMPLE FROM CALIFORNIA

According to the Foundation for Educational Choice, about 19% of California high school students in any ninth-grade class will drop out over a four-year period. During the 2007-2008 school years, 98,420 public high school students dropped out. There is an infinite amount of repercussions that exist socio-economically including the direct impact on personal income and California's revenue received through income taxes. When the average educational engine or political think tank sees the statistic, they see a failure in the schools to retain students. But why is no investment made in determining how to retain the students?

DISTRICTS LOSE MONEY WHEN STUDENTS DROP OUT

California alone has lost an average of $54 billion dollars in revenue each year because they have allowed these alarming dropout rates to continue without examining how to correct the problem. What if students could latch onto music education as something they related to: (whether it be choir, band or general music)? Get them in the door and then the experts in the classrooms (our teachers) will be able to use curriculum mapping to teach across the curriculum drawing from the excitement from other topics in an effort to have students retain knowledge in core subjects.